Sam Mendes in early talks to direct Disney's live-action Pinocchio

Disney's onslaught of live-action adaptations of their animated classics continues, but, with the recent BEAUTY AND THE BEAST taking in $1.2 billion at the box-office, who can blame them? The studio has plenty of adaptations in the pipeline, including PINOCCHIO, which Deadline reports has Sam Mendes (SPECTRE) in early talks to direct.

This won't be the first time that Sam Mendes has been attached to a Disney flick, as just last year he was in early talks to direct a live-action remake of JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. It seems that the Roald Dahl story is no longer in the cards for Mendes, but Variety cautions that the director isn't fully committed to agreeing to the project just yet. Due to his commitments to his West End play "The Ferryman," Mendes hasn't been able to have a full sit down with Disney. As for the script, the last we heard was that Peter Hedges (DAN IN REAL LIFE) had penned a script which will be "loosely based" on the original PINOCCHIO story.

Sam Mendes hasn't directed a film since SPECTRE, but he certainly seems to have plenty of possibilities after ruling out a return to the James Bond franchise. Last month it was reported that Mendes was circling an adaptation of "My Favorite Thing is Monsters," a graphic-novel by Emil Ferris which takes the form of a fictional graphic diary and follows a 10-year-old girl in 1960's Chicago as she attempts to solve the murder of her upstairs neighbour.